Nora Heysen discusses her rural childhood; her artistic pre-eminence over her siblings; attending a convent school in Mt Barker, South Australia; her family's lack of interest in organised religion; her family’s focus on art; music and dance; studying at the Adelaide School of Art; studying in London; her parents’ support of her art studies; aesthetic theory; comparisons between her and her father’s work; family dynamics; attitudes towards women painters; taking up portraiture; moving to Sydney (1938); differences between the Melbourne and Sydney art movements; the process of portraiture; winning the Archibald Prize (1938); securing portrait commissions; the advantages of commissioned work; her feelings about motherhood.

Heysen discusses being appointed as an official war artist (1943); New Guinea and her official instructions there; her working conditions; insubordination; illness and recall to Australia; official complaints about her work; love and marriage (1953); settling in Hunter’s Hill, Sydney; pets and animals; caring for her husband; women’s nurturing and domestic roles; travelling in the tropics; her artistic output during this period; her marriage’s end; the value of emotional experiences to an artist’s work; the burden of having a famous family name; her lifetime achievements and artistic reputation; her father’s death; temperamental inheritances from her parents; artistic influences; her materials and palettes; the most important elements of painting; Impressionism and Post-Impressionism; art as an escape; eyesight problems; particular aesthetic challenges; friends; old age; independence; domestic routine; the difficulties and rewards of an artist’s life; smoking; her regrets at not learning German as a child.

Biography/History

Nora Heysen, a painter and daughter of famed Australian landscape artist, Hans Heysen, the only one of his eight children to become an artist. She spent her childhood near Adelaide painting and drawing often in the company of her father. In 1931 at age 20 she began exhibiting her works in three State galleries and then undertook further training in London for the next four years. In 1939 having moved back to Australia and living in Sydney, she became the first woman artist to win the Archibald Prize. During the Second World War (1939-1945), Nora was appointed the first female war artist serving in New Guinea and Northern Australia.

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Members of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori communities are advised that this catalogue contains names and images of deceased people. All users of the catalogue should also be aware that certain words, terms or descriptions may be culturally sensitive and may be considered inappropriate today, but may have reflected the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written.